Aurel Vlaicu
| Aurel Vlaicu | |
|---|---|
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| Native name | Aurel Vlaicu |
| Born |
Aurel Vlaicu November 19, 1882 Binținți, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | September 13, 1913 (aged 30) Bănești, Kingdom of Romania |
| Cause of death | Heart attack during a flight test |
| Resting place |
Bellu cemetery, Bucharest 44°24′13.79″N 26°5′59.11″E / 44.4038306°N 26.0997528°E |
| Nationality | Romanian |
| Alma mater |
Budapest University of Technology and Economics Technische Universität München |
| Occupation | Engineer, inventor, aviator |
| Known for | Pioneer of Romanian and world aviation |
| Parent(s) | Dumitru Vlaicu (father) Ana (mother) |
Aurel Vlaicu (Romanian pronunciation: [a.uˈrel ˈvlajku]; November 19, 1882 – September 13, 1913) was a Romanian engineer, inventor, airplane constructor and early pilot.
Aurel Vlaicu was born in the village of Binţinţi (renamed Aurel Vlaicu in 1927) near Geoagiu in Transylvania, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and now in Romania. He attended a Calvinist high school in Orăştie (renamed "Liceul Aurel Vlaicu" in his honor in 1919) and took his Baccalaureate in Sibiu in 1902. He was a high school colleague of Petru Groza, and in Sibiu became friends with Octavian Goga. Vlaicu furthered his studies at Technical University of Budapest and Technische Hochschule München in Germany, earning his engineer's diploma in 1907.
Between 1907 and 1908 Vlaicu served in the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and on September 1, 1908 he took an engineer's position with the Opel car factory in Rüsselsheim.
Vlaicu left Opel in March 1909 and returned to Binţinţi, where, together with his brother, Ion, he built a glider which first flew in the summer of 1909.
In October 1909, on the advice of Goga, he moved to the Kingdom of Romania, where with help from Romanian-Transylvanian expatriates, he obtained financial support to build his first powered airplane, following a number of demonstration flights with rubber-powered models in front of Romanian government officials and journalists.
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